'How to be green? Many people have asked us this important question. It's really very simple and requires no expert knowledge or complex skills. Here's the answer. Consume less. Share more. Enjoy life.' Penny Kemp and Derek Wall

West Papuans to hold traditional ceremony on Westminster Bridge to remember1998 ‘Bloody Biak’ massacre by Indonesian militaryAS BIG BEN strikes 12 Noon on Saturday 5th July, West Papuans will drop flowersinto the River Thames from Westminster Bridge in an ancient Papuan ceremony toremember their fellow countrymen massacred by the Indonesian military 10 yearsago.

Former political prisoner and West Papuan independence leader, BENNY WENDA,will be joined by the Green Party’s Principal Male Speaker, DEREK WALL, andsupporters of the UK based Free West Papua Campaign. Each flower will representthe 150 West Papuans massacred by the Indonesian military on the island of Biakin July 1998 for peacefully raising their independence flag and all the 100,000plus West Papuans murdered by Indonesian security forces during 45 years of theIndonesian occupation.

And as a symbol of resistance and hope for a future independent West Papua,Benny Wenda and Derek Wall will together raise the banned West Papuan flag onWestminster Bridge, an action which would land them both in jail for 15 yearsif they repeated it in Indonesian-occupied West Papua.

Derek Wall will also be bringing a message of support from HUGO BLANCO, theLatin American indigenous leader and editor of Lucha Indigna (IndigenousStruggle).

BACKGROUND: 10 years ago, in July 1998, West Papuans on the island of Biakheard a rumour that President Clinton had recognised West Papua’sindependence from Indonesia. Amidst scenes of overwhelming joy and celebration,the people of Biak sang hymns of thanksgiving and raised the Morning Star flag,the symbol of Papuan freedom, from top of the town’s huge water tower.

Tragically, the rumour was false. Within days, the Biak people felt the fullbrutal vengeance of the Indonesian state. 150 West Papuan men, women & childrenwere slaughtered. The Morning Star flags were again hidden away - at least fornow.

To the shame of successive Indonesian governments, since Biak 1998 not a singlemember of the Indonesian Army, Navy or Police has been brought to justice fortheir part in this crime against humanity. Both the ordinary Indonesianfoot-soldiers who pulled the triggers and the Generals in Jakarta & Jayapurawho gave them the orders have got away with murder - at least for now.

TEN YEARS LATER, the hope of “Papua Merdeka” (Free West Papua) lives on inthe hearts of the people of Biak and all West Papuans.

Here’s what Papuan eye-witnesses told Australian writer Kel Dummett about theevents of that terrible day:

“The details of the 1998 massacre are overwhelming… At 5am the [Indonesian]army opened fire on a crowd of sleeping young people at the harbour, who hadbeen guarding their Morning Star flag, raised a few days earlier [killing about50].

The entire population of Biak town was rounded up at gunpoint and forced to theharbour area, where for the whole day they were subjected to physical andsexual abuses, including the young children.

More than 100 people—mostly women, some with babies and young children—wererounded up and forced on board two [Indonesian] naval vessels, where they werestripped, killed and their bodies mutilated and dumped at sea.”

“West Papuans are fighting for freedom. They are the true ecologists, theprotectors of the rainforests of Papua. Yet the Indonesian occupation of WestPapua has led to the death of many people, the destruction of the forests andthe repression of civil liberties.

I am proud to be able to speak, once again, in support of Benny Wenda and therest of the Free West Papua movement in their brave and vital struggle forindependence and democracy.”

To mark the anniversary, Benny Wenda says: “In our own homeland, we Papuansare not free even to remember our dead, but here right in the middle of London,we can honour all our people killed by Indonesia and raise our freedom flag.”

WEST PAPUA (previously named Netherlands New Guinea by the Dutch and Irian Jayaby Indonesia) is the western half of the island of New Guinea, bordering theindependent nation of Papua New Guinea. West Papua has been illegally occupiedby the Indonesian military since it was handed over, against the will of theindigenous population, by the Netherlands to Indonesia in1963.

For the past 45 years, successive Indonesian regimes have used extreme violenceagainst the people of West Papua as the only possible way of terrorising theminto submitting to rule by Indonesia.

Since 1963, at least 100,000 West Papuans have died at the hands of theIndonesian occupying forces, representing approximately 10% of the population.Countless others have been tortured, raped, intimidated and imprisoned.

Working alongside exiled West Papuan independence leader and former politicalprisoner, Benny Wenda, the Free West Papua Campaign is working to raiseawareness of the plight of the West Papuans under Indonesian militaryoccupation and to build support for an internationally-mediated West Papuapeace process leading to a peaceful resolution to the conflict in accordancewith the democratic will of the indigenous West Papuan people.

1 comment:

Free West Papua for most ordinary people in Papua is closely related to the improvement of our living standard including the protection of our mother earth, i.e the rain forest, the highland, the sea, the river.

If the UK green party support Free West Papua in the negatice way of creating conflict through independence, we feel sorry for the wrong direction.

It will be more effective to support green movement in Indonesia and support the green movement in Papua.

Just a simple idea from Free West Papua (http://westpapuafree.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/green-indonesia-green-papua/)